Welcome to where brands are commodities in disguise – The Sea of Sameness. The Homogenous Horizon. The Monotony Maze. The Crowded Conformity. The Replica Realm. The Cookie Cutter Crowd. The Uniform Universe. 

Whatever you want to call it, it’s everywhere. Every category – from tech to fashion – has its own sea made of its own competition. 

The best-in-class brand was the first to set sail on this sea; they set the standard. 

Now, others mimic their every move – their language, their visuals, their tonality, their interface, their promotions. They’re trying to keep pace through their own version of sameness and the most sincere form of flattery – copying what already exists.

So, when everybody feels, sounds, looks, walks, and talks the same, absent cultural trends and category cliches, there are two questions that help us chart a different course…

Can we say something different? 

Can we stand out by saying something that truly stands out for the right reasons (not just shock)? Can our voice be heard above an indistinguishable crowd? 

OR

Can we do something different? 

Are we daring to defy what’s been done before? Are we the brand others wish they could be? Are we (truly, actually) innovating and introducing something wholly new into the market?

If we can’t answer yes to either question, we’re part of the sea. 

If we can, it’s up to us to maintain our leadership by continuing to challenge ourselves to ensure nobody else can say or do what we can, the way only we can.

But it’s time for some self-reflection, too, because the sea of sameness isn’t a problem just isolated to our clients. 

As marketers… as consultants… as advisors and partners and agencies, this sea of sameness insight itself is becoming part of our own category’s strategic sea of sameness. It’s in every analysis and every insight framework. It’s a given, it’s assumed. 

Can a sea of sameness really be an insight if it’s true for everybody? Or, is it simply competitive table stakes? 

When we default to simplifying a creative landscape to a sea of sameness, we’re all quite literally saying and doing the exact same thing.

So, just as we moved on from positioning companies as the Netflix of their industry, and stopped describing brands as the Uber of a category, and finished proclaiming how the pandemic fundamentally shifted consumer mindsets, it’s time to swim out of this sea of sameness insight, too.

To ensure we’re helping clients stand-out in real, material ways, we can embrace the privilege of our own differentiation by avoiding the stagnation of category frameworks and well-trodden perspectives.

Because if our team…our processes… our agency don’t stand out in our own crowded market, how can we expect our clients to trust us to do the same for them and theirs?